


Your Smile, Still The Same

by jessebee



Series: Moments Between (ROTJ) [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: How people change, Light Angst, Missing Scene, Other, Pre-Slash (if you squint), Talking, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessebee/pseuds/jessebee
Summary: That moment in ROTJ when Han gets his first good look at Luke, there in the briefing room, and starts to realize that shit has, indeed, changed.(Missing scene for RETURN OF THE JEDI)





	

 

 

“I'm with you, too!”

The clear voice cut instantly through the hubbub of the Fleet headquarters frigate's main briefing room as its owner swung easily down the steps, a slender figure all in black. Luke.

Han felt the grin split his face.

He got to his feet and Chewie did as well, but Leia beat them both as she jumped up and met Luke halfway, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. Luke returned it, and Han held back to let them have a moment. When they pulled apart again, Leia said something. Luke replied and Han didn't quite catch the words, but the look on his friend's face was … yeah. Wow.

Well of course Luke loved her, the kid had done from the start. No reason that should make Han's stomach knot up now. The deep – sadness? resolution? – on Luke's face was another matter entirely. Han pinned his good cheer back in place and stepped forward. “Luke.”

“Hi, Han, Chewie.” Luke greeted them both with a genuine smile and quiet warmth that seemed compounded of relief, gladness, and that something else Han still couldn't read, and Han took his first full look at his friend.

Dressed in black from neck to feet, Luke’s clothing was unlike anything Han had seen him wear over the years, but it meshed with Han’s blurry memories of the rescue. It was in Luke's demeanor where the real difference was.

The man in front of Han bore little trace of the reckless farmboy Luke had been, or the still enthusiastic but experienced rebel that Han had watched him become. This Luke was a warrior – a man with a silent, solemn, hard-won maturity that went bone-deep.

This Luke wouldn't be throwing himself into Han's arms at the end of a million-to-one-shot rescue.

Han saw Leia move from the corner of his eye and looked over at her, caught the shadow of unease on her face as she glanced between him and Luke, a shadow that said, clear as day _Do you see what I mean now?_

Contained, she'd called Luke. Detached.

Yeah, Han got it now.

*

 

Leia had left the _Tydirium's_ cockpit some minutes ago to run a few last checks and talk with the assault squad. Now the door slid shut behind Chewie as well, out to stretch himself while he could, because the shuttle cockpit really hadn’t been built with Wookies in mind.

Which left Han alone with Luke for the first time since –

Since he'd saved the kid from a cold storage death back on Hoth.

Han watched from the corner of his eye as Luke slipped easily into Chewie's seat; watched him assess controls and readings at a glance, every inch the seasoned pilot. The camouflage poncho he wore was silly-looking but it broke up that black on black outfit, and the memory of the scrappy, poncho-clad boy Luke had been on that very first flight brought a faint twist of a smile to Han's mouth. What had changed that wide-eyed teenager into – this? And when?

 _When?_ Han's smile turned sardonic. _While_ _ **you**_ _were in cold storage, that's when._

“I'm sorry.”

Luke's soft voice broke into Han's thoughts. “Hmm?” Han looked over at him fully. “For what?”

“For making you uncomfortable.”

Han’s brow creased. “Uncomfortable?”

“With all this.” Luke shrugged, looking out ahead at the hyperlights. “With me. For becoming that thing you said didn’t exist.”

For becoming … ? “What?”

“A user of the Force. For, you know – proving you wrong.”

Now, wait a – wait. Was Luke – was the cocky so-and-so trying it on?

“’Simple tricks and nonsense,’ right? That was it, what you said? Sorry to – “ Luke shrugged again, all solemnity, “show you up.”

Han’s mouth dropped open, because Luke was – Yeah, he’d changed but not _that_ much. The cheeky little sand-rat  was _teasing_ him.

“You little _bastard_ ,” Han said, grinning as Luke's facade broke apart into that broad, bright smile; looked for something to throw and settled for whacking Luke solidly on the arm as his friend shied away, laughing. “Didn’t I warn you, years ago, do _**not**_ get cocky with me?”

“Too late,” Luke said cheerfully, and ducked another wide swing.

“Yeah, well, just you watch it, junior,” Han mock-growled, settling back into his seat. Luke grinned at him, quite obviously uncowed.

Mutual mirth ran down into a comfortable, familiar silence, punctuated by the low hum of the shuttle’s hyperdrive.

“Y’know,” Han said after a bit, and Luke looked over at him, “Leia said you’d changed, but you ain’t really – you’re still that same smart-assed fly-boy, far as I see.”

“But that’s the thing, Han: I have,” Luke said, soft and serious now. He didn’t move but somehow his posture tightened. “I have changed. And I don’t want that to,” he looked briefly down before meeting Han’s eyes again. “I don't want that to come between us.”

“Why would it?” Han asked, confused.

Luke studied him, then his face warmed into another, gentler smile and he seemed to relax again. “Maybe not,” he said, a bit cryptically. “Because I’m not quite the same. I am a Jedi now, or very nearly.” He looked wry for a moment. “I’ve learned so much … “ He shook his head. “A lot happened while you were gone.”

That unsparing blue gaze captured Han’s own once more, and they were Luke’s eyes and yet they were something _more_ , something _other_ , and it felt like they were boring right into Han’s heart.

Nothing else to do with a gaze like that except meet it head-on. “I’m – maybe not quite the same either, Luke,” Han said quietly. “What all’s just happened – “ He took a breath. “It makes a difference, what you did; what you all did. Coming after me. I said – I owe you one, and I do, but it’s more than that, it’s – ” Damn. Where were the words? He knew what he meant – maybe – but how did he say it?

Luke rescued him again, in a way. “It’s okay. I think I know,” he said.

But behind the soft words, the _more_ and _other_ in Luke's eyes deepened, opening into unsounded wells of love and pain, unveiled and unfaltering. Terrifying. Enough to make Han's own heart stutter in his chest because nobody should be that vulnerable, nobody _could_ feel like that for another being and certainly not for _him_ –

The moment shattered as a green tell-tale flashed and a soft chime sounded. “Ten minute warning to regular space,” Luke said, looking at the console and killing the chime with a flick of his hand. His right hand, the one hidden beneath the plain black glove. He sounded shockingly normal. “Better get Chewie back in the chair, he’s more familiar with this model than I am.”

Han nodded and swallowed, and reached for the comm, ignoring the faint tremor in his own fingers.

Show time.

*

*

*

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1.25.17
> 
> That moment in ROTJ when Han gets his first good look at Luke, there in the briefing room, and starts to realize that shit has, indeed, changed.
> 
> I seem to be on a "missing scene" kick here lately, particularly for RETURN OF THE JEDI. Exploring the emotional beats that were not detailed on the screen, and how they affect Luke's and Han's and Leia's relationships.


End file.
